Dodd — Very preliminary, no details — but this sounds like a big step in the right direction. — One of the problems with this blog is that I ruffled a few feathers back when Bush had an 80 percent approval rating, and somehow I wasn't impressed. People remember, and as a result …

A Fine Mess — A friend serving in the Bush administration called Sunday to try to talk me out of my doubts about the $700 billion financial bailout the administration was asking Congress to approve. I picked up the phone, and made the mistake of good-naturedly remarking …

Palin on Ahmadinejad: ‘He Must Be Stopped’ — Governor Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, was scheduled to speak today at a rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the appearance here of President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Her appearance was canceled by rally organizers who sought a nonpolitical event.

WHY IS OBAMA SO VAPID, HESITANT, AND GUTLESS? — Last week really ought to have been the end of the McCain campaign. With the whole country feeling (and its financial class acting) as if we lived in a sweltering, bankrupt banana republic, and with this misery added to the generally Belarusian atmosphere …

The End-Times And Sarah Palin — Yes, she believes in them. Of course she believes in them. Her former pastor believes that Alaska will be the refuge for the faithful in the lower 48 states when the Rapture comes. She is a Biblical literalist who denies evolution - who has to deny evolution - to remain in her church.

Palin's town charged women for rape exams — ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's hometown required women to pay for their own rape examinations while she was mayor, a practice her police chief fought to keep as late as 2000. — Former state Rep. Eric Croft, a Democrat …

Bailout Prevents Great Depression 2.0 — What would be the dollar cost of not bailing out Wall Street? Try a number north of $30 trillion. (The awful math is detailed below.) That's why Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke were so scared last week. And, yes, I think “scared” isn't too strong a word.

Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman's New York staff — Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

Steering the McCain Campaign, a Lot of Old Bush Hands — When Gov. Sarah Palin flew home to Alaska for the first time since being named the Republican vice presidential nominee, she brought along at least half a dozen new advisers to conduct briefings, stage-manage her first television interview …

DEEP SECRETS OF CAMPAIGN 2008 — The news regarding the presidential campaign has been delivered on two tracks. On one track the mainstream media have played their usual role of the Victorian gentleman described by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff. In this capacity, to borrow Wolfe's formulation …

God, Patriotism and Taxes — Joe Biden isn't backing down from his startling claim last week that raising taxes on the rich is the “patriotic” thing to do. On Thursday he upped the ante, thundering that he also has Jesus in his corner. “Catholic social doctrine as I was taught it is …

Crude Oil Prices Up More Than $16 — Oil prices posted their biggest one-day gain on Monday, jumping more than $25 a barrel as investors dashed into commodities on concerns about the government's plan to bail out the financial system. — After a wild last hour of trading …

Uncommitted Voters More Engaged By RNC Telecasts — Voters not yet committed to either candidate were 12% more engaged by TV coverage of the GOP convention than the Democratic convention, according to an analysis released Monday by Nielsen IAG. — John McCain's acceptance speech …